Fence-clamp



(No Model.) H LOETHER.

FENCE CLAMP.

No. 461,762. Patented Oct. 20, 1891.

A TTOHNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGO LoE'rH'ER, oF FREDONIA, KANsAs.

FENCE-CLAMP.

SPECIFICATION forining part of Letters Patent No. 461,762, dated October 20, 1891.

' Application iiled February 20, 1891. Serial No. 382,131. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern: l

Be it known that I, HUGO LOETHER, of Fredonia, in the county of IVilson and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fence-Clamps, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to fence-clamps especially adapted for use in the construction of picket-fences when the pickets of the fence are to be held in position b'y wire.

The object of the invention is to economize in the construction of such fences and to dispense with the necessity of using a fence-machine; also, to provide a device of simple construction capable of being manipulated at but little cost, which device will act in the dual capacity of a clamp for the wire and a gage for the distance between the pickets.

The invention consists in the novel construction of the clamp and in the combination thereof with the binding-wires and the pickets of the fence, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of anumberof the devices, illustrating their application in the construction of a fence. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken above one of the lines of wire illustrated in Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the clamp.

The device consists of ashank lO, comprising the body and claws l1 at the ends of the shank. The claws at each end are two in number and are bent in opposite directions, outward at a right angle to the shank and inward, so that the lower ends of said claws face each other. Aspace 12 is made to intervene the opposed ends of each set of clamps, as is best illustrated in Fig. 3. The clamps are hook-like in general contour, and the entire device is preferably constructed of two pieces of wire twisted to form the shank and bent to produce the claws.

In the construction of the fence double strands of wire 13 are attached to corner-posts 14, the said strands of wire being horizontally located and parallel with each other. The

first step in the operation is to pass the strands of wire through the claws of a number of devices, the devices corresponding in number to the number of horizontal strands. By this means, as the claws are narrower than the thickness of the corner posts or pickets 15 to be employed, the wire is contracted the length of the device, as illustrated in Fig. 2. A picket is then placed between the several strands and one edge forcedas near as possible to the clamps `iust located. Another set of clampsis made to engage with the strands of wire in front of the opposite edge of the picket, and another picket is placed between the wire strands and forced upward as near as possible to the contiguous ends of the latter clamps. This operation is continued until a section of the fence has been coinpleted, and each section is constructed in like 11131D1181'.

I t will be observed that by this method a fence may be quickly and economically constructed by even an inexperienced person, as a fence-machine is not required and the devices act in the dual capacity of clamps and spacing-blocks. It is evident that the clamps may be made as long or as short as desired, as the length of the clamps determines the distance between the pickets of thc fence.

IIavin g thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. A clamp for connecting parallel wires between two pickets, consisting in a shank provided with two claws at each end, t-he claws of each pair being bent oppositely outward and then curved inward toward each other, with their adjacent ends spaced apart, as at 12, to admit the wires, substantially as set forth.

2. Afence-clamp consisting of a body portion or shank constructed vof lengths of wire twisted together in the same direction from end to end of the body, the ends of the wire being carried outward at a right angle to the body in opposite directions and curved-in- Ward, so that the extremities of the claws at strands between the pickets, the said strands the ends of the body practically face each being clamped by the claws of the devices, zo other, as and for the purpose set forth. substantially as and for the purpose specified.

S. The combination, with the strands of a A 1 r wire fence and pickets passed through the HUGO LOEHIER strands, of clamps comprising ashank, and Witnesses. a. set of claws at each end of the shank, the R. M. CASE, said clamps being located upon the Wire R. L. CARSON. 

